China's new deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe, or "Striver", set a
new diving record of 10,058 meters on Oct 27 while approaching the
Challenger Deep, a 11,000-meter chasm located at the bottom of the
Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, according to China Central
Television. The submersible will attempt another dive into the
world's deepest known point on Tuesday. Last month, Fendouzhe made its
maiden journey to the Marina Trench onboard its mother ship, Exploration
2. Fendouzhe is the world's deepest-diving manned submersible,
capable of carrying up to three passengers to conduct scientific
research in the deep sea. The instrument is electrically powered and can
operate for around 10 hours underwater. Almost all the
vehicle's technologies and instruments were developed by Chinese
researchers, according to the China Ship Scientific Research Center. In
June 2012, China's first deep-sea manned submersible, named after the
mythical sea dragon Jiaolong, set China's previous diving record by
plunging 7,062 meters down the Mariana Trench. Shenhai Yongshi ("deep-sea warrior"), China's second deep-sea manned submersible, is able to dive to a depth of 4,500 meters.
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